Flying free

We organised the first International Women’s Day Celebration, in 1986. My baby, just a few weeks old, came with me that night. His Dad looked after him in a room downstairs while I facilitated the meeting of about 150 women. If needed he could be brought up to me for a feed…….such are women’s lives, the personal is always political….

It was the closing of the United Nations Decade for Women. We had big dreams and endless things that had to be put right. In Ireland there were painful and divisive debates on abortion and divorce. Contraception was only legalised in 1980 with lots of restrictions. Divorce was finally legalised in 1997. There was a marriage bar in place until 1973 which meant that no married woman could keep her public service job.

I could go on and on….But for me personally there was always something else going on behind my feminism. Maybe because my own Mother died at the young age of 33, I had tried to learn about what it means to be a woman from observations.

Like my Grandmother who set up a hat shop and then a restaurant in midland town and worked every day until her 90th year when she popped upstairs for a little rest and passed away. My assorted Aunts and Grandaunts who dedicated their lives to nursing, architecture, catering, sewing, and childcare. The women who taught me in school, who themselves went through a huge upheaval in the 1960s. Dominican nuns who quit their veils and teachers who kept their jobs in spite of husbands and children. There were TV feminists who argued and railed at the male establishment, and mothers on our road who proclaimed that every girl should have her “running away money.” All of these hard working women, showed me, in different ways, how important it was to find freedom……

I also learned that some women were vulnerable, hidden and frightened, and remain so to this day. That every woman at some time in her life would be challenged by discrimination or inequality, by illness and hopelessness. That opportunities to study and work were vital to our independence and that men needed to be brought on board or there would be no future for true equality.

I came to live in Waterford in 1981. Emerging feminists were beginning to gather, thrashing out pros and cons for hours in a room over a pub. Some marched for reproductive rights and the right to divorce, other groups set up the first Family Planning Clinic, the first Rape Crisis Centre, the first Women’s Centre. Women struck out on their own in life, left marriages, stayed in marriages, came out, set up businesses, got jobs, wrote poetry, ran away.

And now after a life time of cleaning up messes, many of us are free and flying, have bread and roses, have the lives we want. Imperfections and all, we know how amazing this is. But is it enough? No. That’s why the latest generation of feminist women awakening is such a positive development. The “Quiet Revolution” goes on until every woman, every where is free, what ever that means to her……

Every year since, I continue to attend the International Women’s Day Celebration. This year an exhibition of 120 women who made a contribution to Waterford through history was displayed in the library. My story there, amongst those amazing women, represents a younger me, full of passion and fearlessness for the future. And today the older me is proud of her, and of feminists everywhere with an ongoing commitment to create safety and freedom for all women……..

That means a lot Caroline, thanks. It’s great we have a third act to look forward to? I heard Caitlin Moran saying, who would have thought (whatever we may think of her policies) that a 67 year old Grandmother, with 7 other careers behind her, would be running for the biggest job in the US? As with all other women we get to make it up as we go along, we will always be amongst the first to sample a taste of the liberation that is only going to grow!

I love this blog post Catherine. It’s made me think about my own commitment to feminism and the ongoing struggle for freedom and safety for all women. In my teenage years and twenties I was a staunch feminist but somewhere along the line I stopped voicing this. I don’t really know why as it is still strong within me and the choices I make are still based on my values as a feminist. Maybe it’s time to rekindle the passion and start getting involved again. Thanks for the thought-provoking post.

I know what you mean. I recently campaigned in the Equal Marriage Referedum and felt that flame rekindled! Maybe we are just getting space to do our own thing? Isn’t that what it’s about too? But whatever we do I agree we should add our voices where they count. Remember our dreams of a better world……be allies to young feminists. Thanks for provoking more thinking……

Lovely to read this Catherine and see the history behind your work…it’s a perspective the too often gets lost or ignored, and is definitely what has made all of us women who we are today…Great to share this from a similar passage of time over here in OZ.

What a lovely piece, it makes me think of my mum and how unfree she was, a woman who got left behind because of the male establishment. Thank you for reminding me and others I hope that because of women like you, women like my mum are starting to stand up and be noticed, be recognised for the wonderful women they are. With love and a teardrop in my eye I thank you and all women who continue to fight the fight for gender equality. ❤️

Thank you Michael. I know you are a fellow traveller and are aware of these things. Your own powerful leadership on the Yes Equality Campaign certainly was contagious!!! Your Mother probably suffered as a result of the oppressive Ireland of the day. Aren’t we lucky to see change little by little over our lifetimes X

As you say ‘we get to make it up as we go along’.
This was a good post to read this morning. I didn’t take part in any of the Women’s Day events – and in fact there were very few to choose from. The day pretty well passed with just a small editorial in the local paper. I come from a long line of strong and independent women, though some would deny it in favour of ‘femininity’.

Thank you Michael! Your own leadership was a huge inspiration to many of us old feminists! The Yes Equality Campaign lit a fire in a whole new generation. It is sad that many women were cheated by the oppressive society that Ireland was then. And even today many people deny that there is any inequality??? ❤️

Wonderful pictures and I see the birds like women, having their own flight and a right to their own life. We can do much more than most men think. We should be proud to be a woman. On the other hand we should have the same rights and payment like men. We do the job as good and maybe even better. I dont see to many men who can multi task 😉

Women do so much work Astrid, but it is often hidden….I went to see the film Suffragette recently I think you and Ginnie would love it!!! It highlights the hard work and the amazing spirit of those women. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I bet you are a super multi-tasker:~)))

Oh, my lord, how I loved reading this post! Hearing about your hard working Grandmother and the many other women that helped shape your life and who made sure the young ones had running away money, so wonderful. And you, my dear, are such a special one, awesome to see you there at your window … thank you so much for sharing your life and those stunning images. xo

Susan I’ve been on your side of the pond for few days, hence the slow reply. It never ceases to amaze me how much of our cultures are similar? Anyway yes those women from the previous generations were amazing. If you ever get a chance to see Suffragette give it a whirl. I saw it some where over the Atlantic on my way over, it is fabulous xx

It *was* stunning to see you at your window–your creative place, alive in the moment. We do have an amazing grandmother running for president here in the US, but my god, such enmity all around her. I’m sure she is tough enough–still I reject the hate she will have to wade through. There are those who would take us back to the fifties here, what in the hell has happened? They are on the wrong side of history. I think back on my own struggles, my own great freedoms, which are even now, open to argument. I would have loved to have been in the audience hearing you address that crowd…your baby in the wings. How proud your family must have been. For me, it was an arrest–against the Vietnam war, in my twenties and full of the fight. Still am on a good day and most are good days-:) I also find a deepening female longing for peace, for unity, for making a safer world for children. That femaleness is immensely powerful. My dear father—who is in his dying days—said to me yesterday: YOU are now the big bear in the room. I haven’t a clue what he meant (!), but then again…maybe I do-:) It is great to be a woman. I raise a glass to you all!

You are now the big bear in the room…..what insightful wonderful words…..yes we are becoming the elders Susan….I was marching in the St. Patricks Day Parade with a lawyer working in Free Legal Aid. Anyway she was saying the same things about Hilary. It has to be a woman she said…..all politicians have to be opposed that is fair enough….but she is as good and better than many a man….As for the hate stuff…..I’ve had lots of conversations in NYC and this has come up quite a lot…..and that gave me hope…..xx

What a fantastic post. It is fascinating to read about your life and these women around you, and feel like flying high in the sky.
And I will be dreaming about your studio. So much peace and beauty. A gorgeous place to create.

You are such a pioneer, and I continue to love reading more about you dear Catherine, and your journey…I am still fighting for my own freedom. I have forged a career and made my own path, but now I am freeing myself from the inside out…..and your words are again inspiration!